Red Raven
by L Ducky
Summary: Juliet is sick, Artemis and Butler need to find a mysical and fictional bird for her before she dies. Don't mind the spelling errors, please. Don't own any of it, except the raven itself. Chapter Four Up.
1. The Hospital

Artemis looked over at Butler, and was suprised to see a tear leak out of his former bodygaurd's eye. He looked away, pretending he didn't see, but he was still worried. Butler never cried. The burly man pushed the door to the hospital open, and a lady in a white uniform greeted them.

"Hello. May I help you?" Artemis could only imagine what she was really thinking. Butler spoke to her first.

"We are here to visit a girl by the name of Juliet Butler."

"What is your relation to the patient?"

"I'm her brother, and this -" He looked at Artemis, hesitant, "- is a close family friend."

"Room 309. Up three stories, and along the hall to your right."

"Thank you."

The two friends walked along in silence, each wondering what the other was thinking. When they reached room 309, Butler insisted on going in first. THey walked in quietly, in case Juliet was asleep. She wasn't, and when she saw them, she smiled weaky, and tried to sit up. Butler rushed over to help his sister up. Artemis simply stodd in a corner, unsure of what to do. He just looked at the girl, barely daring to believe she was his own age. She looked much more beaten, more frail. The traditional jade ring no longer hung in her hair, instead her long, no longer glossy, hair was loose around her like a shawl. Juliet felt the boy's gaze, and blushed. A hint of color also reached Artemis' pale cheeks. He looked out the window, but it was diffucult, because there was none.

Some dry conversation passed, all the standard stuff "How are you?" "How's the food?" "Anyting interseting happen here?" "Why is there a stuffed giraffe in the corner?" All the regualr stuff, untill Juliet took a deep breath and said, "Dom, I need to tell you something important."

"What is it?"

"I don't think I'm going to ever see the red raven." Butler gasped. Artemis had no idea what was going on.

"Don't say that, Juliet! Of course you will. I promiced, didn't I? You will, I'll make sure of it. Once you get out of here." Juliet gave Butler a look.

"I don't think I'll make it out of here, Domovi. I;m getting waejer, I can feel it. Just look at the charts." She pointed to the clipboards at the foot of her bed. Atremis beat Butler to them, but he could only take a quick look at it, the tears came too soon. He handed it off to Butler, who could not look at it too long either. He took one look at the graoh on the first page, showing the red line of Juliet's health declining fast. The heading was the scariest part.

Patient: JULIET BUTLER

Illness: LUKIMEA

Condition: FATAL

"Juliet, if it's the last thing I do, I promice you will see the red raven."

"Promice?"

"I promice."

_Later..._

"What was that all about?"

"What was what about?" Bulet asked, pretending to be clueless. It did not suit him.

"You know. What's the red raven?"

"Ah. That. It's a long story." They both got into the car. Well, limo to be exact, but you get the point.

"It's a long drive. Please explain."

"Well, it started when we were both at Madam Ko's." Began Butler. "While we were both there, Juliet couldn't sleep more ofter than not. SHe kept having nightmares. So, I got her to sleep by telling her stories right before she went to sleep." Artemis laughed. "What?"

"You just never showed any interest in fairy tales before, that's all."

"I didn't tell fairy tales. I made up a story about a raven the color of blood. At the end of each story-telling 'session,' I promiced her that I would take her to see one before she or I died."

"And now..."

If she really will not be able to get out of her room to see one, we will bring one to her." Butler said assertivly. Artemis thought it best not to argue with him.

"Where do we start?"


	2. Explanation

She just could not stand it. Butler and Juliet both remembered the story of the Red Raven. If Root heard about this… well… she was to blame, after all. She was the one who wanted to be an author so bad that she wrote down one of the most secret legends of all time, one that no one but fairies knew. And, of course, she'd lost the manuscript to – who else? – Butler. Butler had read it, and knew that it would be a good story to tell his sister when she went to sleep, but Holly had to erase the manuscript from his memory. That she did, but only the fact that it was a manuscript. Butler still knew the story, but he thought he made it up. Little did he know that the red raven was, in fact, real, and what's more, Holly knew where it was.

"Short!" Root's gruff voice met her ears. She knew she was in trouble. Holly tried not to be nervous as she walked in, but her heart was pounding a million times a minute.

"Y-yes?" She asked, shakily.

"Short, Foaly has something to ask you." A high-tech monitor was on the opposite wall, and Foaly's face was on it.

"Hi, Holly! How's it going?'

"Good, you?'

"Great! I just made this new gun that you might like, I need to show it to yo-"

"Enough with the chit-chat. Let's get down to business." Root was getting impatient.

"Okay, okay. Holly, I'm getting some very peculiar Internet searches from Fowl Manor. About the Red Raven. How, may I ask, does Artemis know about the Red Raven?"

"It's not Artemis. It's Butler." She spilled the whole story to the pair of them. They looked at her in amazement.

"Holly, you do know _why_ that story was so important to keep a secret, don't you?"

"I must admit, no, I don't."

"I'll tell you then," Root said, matter-of-factly. "The Red Raven is a raven."

"And, let me guess, it's red."

"Don't be a smart-mouth. Yes, the raven is red, the color of blood. This is because of the many who have died, trying to get it. The more people die, the more covered in red it becomes. It can't be any more covered now; too many have died for it. It is all red, the purest red anyone has seen. The few who have not died, trying to see it have seen it, but are now obsessed with finding it again. And once they do, they try to capture it. No one has ever been able to capture it, ever. People have died trying, fairy and human alike."

"But not trolls?"

"Trolls are too stupid to comprehend that there is a such thing as a red raven."

Holly didn't notice it, but the monitor that had Foaly's face in it had disappeared.

"So you understand, Holly, that Artemis and Butler will die trying to get this bird without outside help."

"Where can they find that?"

"Holly, Holly, Holly, you just don't get it, do you?" Root's face was dead serious.

"You must help them."


	3. The Other LEP

**A/N:** Thank you to all my reviewers! Sorry for making you wait for so long, I was caught up in other stories.

**Argella:** Um… you'll find out as soon as I do!

**Refloc:** Thank you, I love Holly's sarcasm, too. And thanks for pointing out the spelling mistake.

**8-8-8-8-8-8-8**

"Me?" Holly was astonished. "How- wha- huh?"

"You heard me, Short. You must help them. You are the one who wrote all about it, are you not?"

"Yes, but that was all fake! I only took the idea of a red raven and made up a story about it…" She tried to continue, lamely.

"Then I suggest you do some research."

"May I at least have Foaly to help me?"

"Fine, but that is the last thing I will bend for. Now, before I loose my temper, GO!"

"I think he already lost it," Holly said to herself as she walked out the door.

_:Meanwhile, at Fowl Manor:_

"Butler, there is very little about any sort of mystical raven, red or otherwise, here."

"I know it's out there somewhere, Aretmis. You said yourself; I am not the 'fairy-tale' type. I have to have heard about it somehow…"

"Was it in a book?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I don't know... There's next-to-nothing on the Internet about it, so we might have to do research the old-fashioned way; the library."

"No need." A tough female voice came from above the computer. A name popped into both Butler's and Artemis' heads.

"Holly? Holly Short?"

"No, it's the other LEP Recon officer that would rush to your aid who looks exactly like Holly." She said while smiling down at the pair of them.

"Holly!" Artemis moved as if to hug her, but thought better of it. Memories flooded back over him, and he could tell from the look on Butler's face that the same thing was happening to him.


	4. Foaly

**A/N:** Sorry this took so long. I've been focusing on my other stories, but I'm writing this now! OK, OK, on with the story.

**Refloc:** The melodramatic-ness is all part of the story.

**Rocketgirl727981:** Well, here's another chapter.

**8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8**

"Well, I'll have you know that this is not my choice to be here, Root made me." Holly said, just to make things clear.

"I gathered as much. Now, would you mind telling us about –"

"The Red Raven?"

"Well, yes."

"Okay, but this will be confusing." she warned

"Tell us anyways." Artemis insisted

"First, Butler." The fairy addressed the bodyguard. "Do you know how you know the story of the Red Raven?"

"Well, no." Butler admitted. "I don't make up stories, and that one was just in my head from somewhere else. I don't know where it came from."

"Well, it all began, for you Butler, when you were at Madame Ko's." Holly told the pair about how she wanted to be an author so bad that she blew off some fairy rules to write a book about a creature no one but the fairies knew of. When she explained how humans and fairies alike had tried and failed to see the bird, Artemis became skeptical.

"How did humans know to chase it if they didn't know it existed?"

"It was known in medieval times, but it was hushed up after about 50 men died for it."

She went on to explain that all her stories about the bird were made up, and that's why they couldn't find anything about it on the Internet.

"The true stories, I actually don't know." She admitted. "All I know is that it's out there, and people want to find it so bad that they are obsessed with it."

"Well, why don't we find out why people want it?"

"Because! I told you already, no one but fairies know that it exists, and most of them, like me, don't know the true legends behind it!"

"Can Foaly help us?"

"Sure…"

"Because I think he knows." Artemis looked over to his computer screen, and waited. He knew Foaly had the technology to appear on his computer, but he wanted to see it for himself. Everyone else in the room followed his gaze, wondering what on earth he was thinking. When Foaly's face appeared on the screen, everyone except Artemis jumped.

"Hello, Foaly."

"Why, hello, Artemis. Good to see you again."

"You, too. May I have some information on the Red Raven?"

"I'll see what I can dig up." The only noise heard in the room for a few seconds were the small bleeps of Foaly's computer.

"Here," the centaur said. "I'm sending the file to your printer. You should get a hardcopy of it in a sec… there it goes." The soft _whir_ of the printer began, and once it stopped, Artemis picked up the file and read the first page.

**A/N:** Next chapter is going to be the file in Artemis' hands.


End file.
